(Reuters) – Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won the opening men’s World Cup super-G at Beaver Creek, Colorado on Thursday, picking up where he left off last season.
Odermatt, winner of the final World Cup super-G of the 2020-21 season in March, navigated his way down the Birds of Prey course in one minute, 8.61 seconds.
The Swiss crossed a commanding 0.78 seconds clear of Austria’s Matthias Mayer, winner of the season-opening downhill in Lake Louise last weekend.
Canadian Broderick Thompson shocked the field from a start number of 35 to grab third place and earn his first World Cup podium finish.
Germany’s Andreas Sander was fourth followed by Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr, winner of the super-G crystal globe last season, in fifth.
The super-G was the first race in a packed weekend at the Colorado resort where a second super-G is scheduled for Friday followed by a downhill doubleheader on Saturday and Sunday.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Lake Louise, Editing by Ed Osmond)
